Memphis Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Downloading Child Pornography at Best Buy

Memphis Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Downloading Child Pornography at Best Buy

MEMPHIS, TN— A 51-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for downloading child pornography at an East Memphis Best Buy.

Between September 3, 2012 and September 10, 2012, John Nesler went into the Best Buy at 5821 Poplar Ave. to download and view lewd images of female minors. He used two Asus 10-inch tablets and a Samsung Galaxy Note 10-inch tablet that were on display to acquire the images. He then took pictures of the pornographic images with his cellphone.

On September 10, 2012, a Best Buy sales associate witnessed Nesler downloading and viewing inappropriate pictures of female minors and alerted store managers. The managers subsequently contacted the Memphis Police Department and reported a suspicious person complaint. Nesler was still in the store when officers arrived to the establishment. After approaching Nesler and obtaining his identification, officers discovered he had a prior conviction in 2007 for downloading and viewing child pornography. He had been sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and 10 years’ supervised release for the offense. Nesler was on probation for the previous crime at the time.

Officers arrested Nesler and seized his cellphone as well as the Best Buy tablets he had utilized. A forensic review of Nesler’s phone revealed that he had taken approximately 114 images of female minors that were sexually suggestive between September 3, 2012 and September 10, 2012. A review of the Best Buy tablets revealed he had made Internet searches related to child pornography.

Tuesday afternoon, Nesler was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment by Judge S. Thomas Anderson for his unlawful acts. He was also ordered to be on supervised release for the remainder of his life.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Larry Laurenzi represented the government in the case.